Natasha Vasilli, right, with her mother Christine

A WOMAN says she feels trapped in her home and is demanding an accessible flat to get her life back.

Natasha Vasilli, 34, lives in Sinclair House in Highbury.

Last year, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), and promised a move by Islington Council into an accessible, ground-floor, step-free flat, or into a building with a lift.

“When I’m in pain I can’t even leave the house,” said Ms Vasilli.

“I’m often in a situation where I have to go and stay with my mum. “I feel like a child that my mum has to look after. I feel like I have to depend on her, and I’m 34 years of age. It’s not right. I should be able to leave my house. I can’t even get in my bath. I have to go to my mum’s to shower because she has a disabled shower.”

She added: “When I’m having a flare-up my legs hurt and I can’t get out of bed. On a good day, if my legs are hurting, I have to bump myself down the stairs on my bum. On a bad day, I can’t even attempt that.”

Ms Vasilli was promised first priority without bidding on any suitable home that came up. She says that she’s had to bid on multiple properties for a viewing, and while she has been shown three properties, two were “completely out of the area where my daughter goes to school, and the third was in a tower block where my friend lives – she told me the lifts are out of order all the time”.

Ms Vasilli says she was also promised bi-weekly phone calls from the council to check in on her and update her on the search for suitable housing.

She says she had not heard from them in more than a year until the Tribune contacted the Town Hall.

Ms Vasilli has spent years battling the council over the state of her housing. In 2017, her building was ripped apart by tree roots, resulting in massive cracks in her walls. She was moved into temporary accommodation for a year while those repairs were done.  A new home would help Ms Vasilli repair her physical health.

“Whenever I get stressed, I get really ill, and this situation is stressful.”

Councillor Una O’Halloran, executive member for homes and communities, said: “We’ve been working with Ms Vasilli to find a home that meets her needs and have offered her several properties. These were declined by Ms Vasilli, and we will continue working with her to find her a new home, and have spoken with her again this week.

“Islington, like the rest of London, is facing a housing crisis and the number of people needing our support with housing has gone up in the last year. Demand for council homes is incredibly high, and especially for accessible properties as numbers are limited, which makes finding suitable ground-floor properties very challenging.”